


Logic

by orphan_account



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 21:10:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13983393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: John said, “Sherlock Holmes, did you just propose to me?”





	Logic

“Oh, _Christ.”_ John collapsed, throwing his head back against the wall, gasping and giggling. “That was ridiculous. We are both officially insane.”

“You just noticed?” Sherlock said, bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing hard. John succumbed to another bout of laughter.

“I can’t believe you did that,” John said. “Lestrade is never letting us in a crime scene again.”

“I doubt it.” Sherlock took out an ID card from his pocket and waved it in the air. “He’s reached the replacement quota. I have an excellent bargaining chip.”

John covered his face with his hands. “You’re such an arse.”

“We deserve each other,” Sherlock retorted.

“Oh, god,” John said, “we do. I don’t think anyone else can stand either one of us.”

“Definitely not.”

“I’m doing everyone else a favour by taking you off their hands.”

“I’m beginning to think you’re the mad one in this relationship. Or possibly a masochist.”

“Agreed. We’re both nutters.”

“We should just elope already.”

“Don’t think I want to run away.”

“Just the marrying bit, then.”

They stood there, chests heaving, hearts pumping wildly on.

John said, “Sherlock Holmes, did you just propose to me?”

“I believe I just did. You don’t happen to have a ring on hand, do you?”

John was silent for a long time. Then he inhaled sharply. “You just—”

“I did.”

John’s head hit the wallpaper with a loud crack.

Sherlock frowned. “I’ve missed something, haven’t I?”

“If by something, you mean the entire progression from being friends to being married. _Yeah.”_

Sherlock pulled up his scarce file on relationships and proposals and found no corresponding data. “Is this how it usually happens?”

“No, Sherlock,” John said through a hand covering his face, “this is not how it usually happens.”

“Enlighten me.”

There were a thousand thoughts stampeding through John’s mind that would all, no doubt, _enlighten_ Sherlock, but for the moment all he could come up with was, “There’s usually a ring.”

“Hmm.” Sherlock slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a single piece of twine. He held it up, dangling. 

John stared at it. There was a piece of dust stuck to one fraying end.

“I’m not getting down on one knee,” Sherlock said firmly. “The floor is absolutely filthy.”

John kept staring.

“Just a few more things,” he said, voice faint, “to enlighten you. When people propose, they tend to have kissed beforehand. Or held hands, for that matter.”

Sherlock tilted his head. “You’ve performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on me before. We’ve held hands while running from the police.”

“Is this for a case?” John said. “Is that it? An experiment?”

“No, it's not an experiment,” Sherlock said. “I enjoy your company, and, despite the abnormality of it and incredulities from others, you enjoy being with me. We already live together, and most people assume that we are a couple upon meeting us. It's only logical. Besides, if we got married I wouldn’t have to break into the hospitals to see you because I’m not family, and you’ll stop bringing home boring, boring women that take your attention away from me.”

Sherlock raised the piece of twine a little more insistently. “John.”

“I… I don’t…” John shook his head. “This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. We’re both off our rockers.”

“I think we’ve already established that.”

John slowly raised his left hand. Watched without a word as Sherlock tied the twine onto his ring finger.

When he was done, Sherlock pressed his palm against John’s and laced their fingers together. He dropped them down to rest near their legs.

“There,” he said happily.

John’s palm was sweaty and a little warmer than Sherlock’s. Sherlock ran a thumb across the knuckles and squeezed lightly.

John, who had been looking at their hands intertwined together, raised his eyes to meet Sherlock’s gaze.

The silence returned, tinged with a rosy pink and a little electric thrum in its wake.

John was content enough to break it. “You're getting me an actual ring, right?”

“Of course,” said Sherlock. And: “That's a yes, then?”

John leaned his head against Sherlock’s shoulder and exhaled. “I have no clue what’s going on, but fuck it. We’re getting married.”

Sherlock beamed.

**Author's Note:**

> The “twine as a ring” thing is from The Imitation Game. I'm unsure if Sherlock is asexual in this—perhaps grey-ace? Up to your interpretation.


End file.
